Yearly Archives: 2020

News: Amazon eyes launching its computer science education program in India

• December 30, 2020
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Amazon is planning to extend its computer science program Future Engineer to India, demonstrating its growing interest in the education space in the world’s second largest internet market. In a job recruitment post, the company said that initial research for Amazon Future Engineer, through which it aims to bring computer science education to underserved and

Amazon is planning to extend its computer science program Future Engineer to India, demonstrating its growing interest in the education space in the world’s second largest internet market.

In a job recruitment post, the company said that initial research for Amazon Future Engineer, through which it aims to bring computer science education to underserved and underrepresented children and young adults, in India is “currently underway” and the chosen candidate would be tasked with working with local nonprofits and government officials.

The company said in the post that it plans to launch the program in India in 2021. The childhood-to-career program is currently operational in the United States, where the company serves more than 5,000 schools and 550,000 students with computer science coursework, it said in a press release earlier this week.

“Amazon India has a specific focus on equipping children and young adults from underserved and underprivileged communities to build better futures for themselves,” the company said in the description. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The American e-commerce giant, which has invested more than $6.5 billion in India so far, has been exploring the education space in the country for a few years. Last year, it launched JEE Ready, an app aimed at helping students who are preparing for entry into India’s prestigious technology institutes. JEE Ready, which has since been rebranded as Amazon Academy, offers free online classes and analyzes students’ performance in mock tests.

Image: Amazon

Amazon isn’t the only American firm that is paying attention to India’s growing education market, where more than 260 million children go to school and much of the population sees education as a key to economic progress and a better life.

Earlier this year, Facebook partnered with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), a government body that oversees education in private and public schools in India, to launch a certified curriculum on digital safety and online well-being, and augmented reality for students and educators.

Facebook this year also invested in Unacademy, a Bangalore-based startup that offers online learning classes. Google, which invested in Indian edtech startup Cuemath this year, has also partnered with CBSE to train more than 1 million teachers in India and offer a range of free tools such as G Suite for Education, Google Classroom and YouTube to help digitize the education experience in the nation.

Microsoft has also collaborated with several Indian government and industry bodies including National Skill Development Corporation, and Nasscom to help more than 1 million people upskill themselves.

News: RentPath drops acquisition deal with CoStar after FTC antitrust lawsuit

• December 30, 2020
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RentPath, owner of property listing sites including Rent.com and Apartment Guide, said today it has cancelled its agreement to be acquired by CoStar Group after the Federal Trade Commission sued to block the sale. CoStar, a commercial real estate data and analytics provider that also operates listing sites like Apartments.com and ApartmentFinder.com, agreed in February

RentPath, owner of property listing sites including Rent.com and Apartment Guide, said today it has cancelled its agreement to be acquired by CoStar Group after the Federal Trade Commission sued to block the sale.

CoStar, a commercial real estate data and analytics provider that also operates listing sites like Apartments.com and ApartmentFinder.com, agreed in February to buy RentPath for $588 million. The all-cash deal came after RentPath said it would file for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. RentPath had already hired financial advisors to restructure more than $650 million in debt, reported the Wall Street Journal.

But earlier this month, the Federal Trade Commission authorized an antitrust lawsuit in federal court to block the acquisition. Daniel Francis, deputy director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, said in a statement that “the acquisition will eliminate price and quality competition that benefits both renters and property managers,” because CoStar and RentPath’s rivalry kept advertising rates on their platform, which include some of the most popular listing sites, low.

In its announcement today, RentPath said its chapter 11 plan remains backed by lenders, including alternative asset management firms with “strong track records of successfully investing in businesses under similar circumstances.”

The FTC’s lawsuit and RentPath’s decision to back out of the acquisition agreement comes as more countries around the world are cracking down on tech consolidation. While the United States has trailed behind other governments in terms of antitrust actions, that is gradually changing, with Amazon, Google and Facebook coming under more legislative scrutiny, and the recent lawsuit filed by 46 states against Facebook alleging that it bought competitors “illegally” to increase its market power.

The fate of the RentPath/CoStar deal may foreshadow more antitrust scrutiny for proptech companies in the United States, too. CoStar built out its business over the past decade through acquisitions and has other deals currently in the works, including listings site HomeSnap, which passed FTC review last month, and a reported bid for property analytics company CoreLogic. CoStar and RentPath competitor Zillow is also known for building its business through a series of acquisitions, including Trulia for $3.5 billion in 2014.

News: New York licenses GMO Internet to issue the first JPY-pegged stablecoin

• December 30, 2020
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The New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) has approved Tokyo-based GMO Internet to launch GYEN, the first stablecoin pegged to the Japanese yen. GMO Internet, an internet conglomerate that offers a large array of services, including domain hosting, online advertising and what it claims is the world’s largest foreign exchange trading platform, will set

The New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) has approved Tokyo-based GMO Internet to launch GYEN, the first stablecoin pegged to the Japanese yen.

GMO Internet, an internet conglomerate that offers a large array of services, including domain hosting, online advertising and what it claims is the world’s largest foreign exchange trading platform, will set up GMO-Z.com Trust Company (GMO Trust) to issue GYEN and ZUSD, a USD-pegged stablecoin. Both will start selling outside of Japan next month.

In a press announcement, GMO Trust said it had also made strategic partnerships with global digital asset exchanges to ensure the liquidity of the virtual currencies. Began developing GYEN in 2018.

GMO Trust joins about two dozen other companies that have received virtual currency licenses, also called BitLicenses, from the NYSDFS. BitLicenses, which went into effect in June 2015, are required to engage in virtual currency business activities in New York. Other companies based in Asia that hold BitLicenses include Japan’s bitflyer, a Bitcoin exchange, and Hong Kong-based digital wallet Xapo.

News: Daily Crunch: Judge dismisses Apple copyright claims against Corellium

• December 29, 2020
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Apple faces a major setback in one of its legal fights, VMware sues a former executive and Google tests a new short-form video feature. This is your Daily Crunch for December 29, 2020. The big story: Judge dismisses Apple copyright claims against Corellium Apple filed a lawsuit last year against Corellium, a company that allows

Apple faces a major setback in one of its legal fights, VMware sues a former executive and Google tests a new short-form video feature. This is your Daily Crunch for December 29, 2020.

The big story: Judge dismisses Apple copyright claims against Corellium

Apple filed a lawsuit last year against Corellium, a company that allows security researchers to create virtualized iOS devices in the browser in order to discover potential security flaws.

Apple argued that Corellium’s product both infringes its copyright and, by circumventing built-in authentications and security checks, violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Today, Judge Rodney Smith dismissed Apple’s copyright claims and wrote that “Corellium has met its burden of establishing fair use.”

Smith did not rule on Apple’s DMCA claims, so this legal battle isn’t over.

The tech giants

VMware files suit against former exec for moving to rival company — The company is claiming that former COO Rajiv Ramaswami had inside knowledge of the key plans at VMware and that he should have told the company that he was interviewing for a job at a rival organization.

Google pilots a search feature that aggregates short-form videos from TikTok and Instagram — This could help Google retain users in search of social video entertainment.

Startups, funding and venture capital

23andMe raises $82.5M in new funding — The company’s work this year around COVID-19 has, perhaps, put the value of its platform in a new light.

CommonGround raises $19M to rethink online communication — The goal is to build online collaboration software that more fully captures the nuances of in-person communication.

Seattle-based Madrona raises $320M for its eighth fund — That’s up slightly from the firm’s past two funds, which were both $300 million vehicles.

Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch

As launch market matures, space opportunities on the ground take off — If you thought the launch boom was big, just wait for to see what happens when it combines with the private satellite boom.

Streaming services face their real test in 2021 — While media/telecom executives and Wall Street investors have been willing to make big investments for a streaming-centric future, they’ll expect to see actual profits soon.

What’s behind this year’s boom in climate tech SPACs? — There’s no denying that 2020 has been the year of the special purpose acquisition company.

(Extra Crunch is our membership program, which aims to democratize information about startups. You can sign up here for a holiday deal good through January 3. Read more about the deal here.)

Everything else

From the US to China, Korea, India and Europe, antitrust action against tech is gaining serious momentum — Antitrust is now a headline issue for the tech industry across the world.

Attending CES 2021? TechCrunch wants to meet your startup — Virtually, of course.

The Daily Crunch is TechCrunch’s roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you’d like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 3pm Pacific, you can subscribe here.

News: This quick and clever tool creates an instant homepage for your podcast

• December 29, 2020
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Podcast homepages weren’t something I gave any thought to until I launched my own standalone show. And honestly, even then I probably didn’t give enough thought to the subject. For that reason, many or most of my shows have Tumblr pages — which is, at best, a bit of a mixed blessing in 2020. The

Podcast homepages weren’t something I gave any thought to until I launched my own standalone show. And honestly, even then I probably didn’t give enough thought to the subject. For that reason, many or most of my shows have Tumblr pages — which is, at best, a bit of a mixed blessing in 2020.

The biggest reason many podcasters give little consideration to the subject is the fact that most people are platform-dependent when it comes to listening. People who consume a lot of podcasts generally do so through a single platform/app, be it Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, Castbox, etc. But when it comes to actually promoting your show on social media, you’re best served by sharing a link that’s platform agnostic.

I’ve been playing around with Podpage a bit today. The new offering was created by Brenden Mulligan, co-founder of app developer toolbox LaunchKit, which sold its tools to Google way back in 2016. The offering has been around for a while now, but Mulligan has offered some updates and recently listed it on ProductHunt.

I’m digging it so far. It’s basically plug-and-play to get up and running, though you can customize a fair bit beyond that. For reference, a simple page I made this morning for my podcast, RiYL:

Image Credits: Brian Heater

After a couple of hours, I’m pretty seriously considering dropping the long-standing Tumblr in favor of the service. My page is pretty simple so far, and honestly, that’s by design. Or, rather, partially by design and partially due to the fact that I haven’t been very good about updating episode art, which has kind of limited my options here (perhaps I’ll go through the 400+ episodes on some future rainy day).

You start by entering your podcast name, and the service goes to work, scraping the relevant information and building it into a page. From there, you can add a Patreon (or other method for monetization) and all related social media. One of the nice things about having a purpose-built service like this is how it pulls together all of the relevant information into a single spot. The sidebar features a breakdown of the different podcatchers where you can listen to the show, coupled with a signup form to get show updates.

On the bottom are a selection of reviews from different podcasting services. Up top is a link to the services where you can leave that feedback. There’s also a subscription link and contact form, which is a handy way of allowing people to email you without giving out personal information. Notes submitted to the form will be sent to your associated email.

The basic experience is free and there are currently two upgrade options. At $5 a month, you can host it on your own website and for $12, there are a bunch more customization options, along with a more fully featured website, including blog functionality and the ability to add transcripts.

News: Google pilots a search feature that aggregates short-form videos from TikTok and Instagram

• December 29, 2020
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Google is testing a new feature that will surface Instagram and TikTok videos in their own dedicated carousel in the Google app for mobile devices — a move that could help the company retain users in search of social video entertainment from fully leaving Google’s platform. The feature itself expands on a test launched earlier

Google is testing a new feature that will surface Instagram and TikTok videos in their own dedicated carousel in the Google app for mobile devices — a move that could help the company retain users in search of social video entertainment from fully leaving Google’s platform. The feature itself expands on a test launched earlier this year, where Google had first introduced a carousel of “Short Videos” within Google Discover  — the personalized feed found in the Google mobile app and to the left of the home screen on some Android devices.

To be clear, this “Short Videos” carousel is different from Google’s Stories, which rolled out in October 2020 to the Google Search app for iOS and Android. Those “Stories” — previously known as “AMP Stories” — consist of short-form video content created by Google’s online publishing partners like Forbes, USA Today, Vice, Now This, Bustle, Thrillist and others.

Meanwhile, the “Short Videos” carousel had been focused on aggregating social video from other platforms, including Google’s own short-form video project Tangi, Indian TikTok competitor Trell, as well as Google’s own video platform, YouTube — which has also been experimenting with short-form content as of late.

The expansion to include Instagram and TikTok content in this carousel was first reported by Search Engine Roundtable (via Brian Freiesleben’s tweet). They were able to access the feature by searching for “packers” in the Google app then scrolling down the page.

We were able to replicate this, as well. (See below image.)

Image Credits: screenshot of Google search results

We found the Short Videos carousel appears when you scroll past the Google Knowledge Base box for the Green Bay Packers, followed by the the scores, Top Stories, Twitter results, Top Results, Images, Videos and other content, like a listing of the players, standings and more.

Both Instagram and TikTok videos were available in the Short Videos row. When clicked, you’re taken to the web version of the social platform — not the native mobile app, even if it’s installed on your device. The end result is that Google users are more likely to remain on Google, as all it takes is a tap on the back arrow to return to the search results after watching the video.

Google has been indexing video content for years and partnered with Twitter on 2015 to index search results. It’s not clear to what extent it has any formal relationship with Facebook/Instagram or TikTok, however. (If those companies comment, we’ll update.)

Google declined to formally comment or further detail its plans, but a company spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch the feature was currently being piloted on mobile devices. They clarified that means it’s a limited, early-stage feature. In other words, you won’t find the video carousel on every search query just yet. But over time, as Google scales the product, it could become an interesting tool for indexing and surfacing top video content from social media — unless, of course, the platforms choose to block Google from doing so.

The feature is currently available in a limited way on the Google app for mobile devices and on the mobile web, the company said.

News: Apple’s lawsuit against Corellium has been partly thrown out

• December 29, 2020
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Back in August of last year Apple filed a lawsuit against the virtualization software company Corellium, arguing that the product infringed its copyright and later adding claims that Corellium’s product violates the DMCA. While the DMCA claims will still need to be settled in court, a judge in Florida has tossed out Apple’s copyright claims.

Back in August of last year Apple filed a lawsuit against the virtualization software company Corellium, arguing that the product infringed its copyright and later adding claims that Corellium’s product violates the DMCA.

While the DMCA claims will still need to be settled in court, a judge in Florida has tossed out Apple’s copyright claims.

So what is Corellium? To over simplify it, Corellium allows security researchers to spin up a virtualized ARM device (including iOS devices) in a browser and take a deep look under the hood to discover potential security bugs. As I wrote last year:

Corellium could allow, for example, a security researcher to quickly fire up a simulated iPhone and hunt for potential bugs. If one is discovered, they can quickly load up prior versions of iOS to see how long this bug has been around. If a bug “bricks” the virtual iOS device and renders it unusable, it’s a matter of just booting up a new one rather than obtaining a whole new phone. Virtualized devices can be paused, giving researchers a detailed look at its precise state at any given moment.

Writes Judge Rodney Smith in a docket filed this morning as first spotted by the Washington Post:

Having reviewed the evidence, the Court does not find a lack of good faith and fair dealing. Further, weighing all the necessary factors, the Court finds that Corellium has met its burden of establishing fair use. Thus, its use of iOS in connection with the Corellium Product is permissible. On these grounds, Corellium’s Motion for Summary Judgment is granted on Apple’s copyright claim.

Smith cites Corellium’s ability to do things like “(1) see and halt running processes; (2) modify the kernel; (3) use CoreTrace, a tool to view system calls; (4) use an app browser and a file browser; and (5) take live snapshots” as proof that the product is “not merely a repackaged version of iOS” and should be considered fair use.

Smith also notes repeatedly that this legal action comes after Apple considered acquiring Corellium.

Between January 2018 and the summer of 2018, the parties engaged in discussions regarding Apple’s potential acquisition of Corellium. During this time, the parties met in-person and telephonically. Corellium explained to Apple the technology behind the Corellium Product and how it works, and discussed Corellium’s business and intention to commercialize the Corellium Product.

And:

If Apple had acquired the Corellium Product, the product would have been used internally for testing and validation (that is, for verifying any system weaknesses and functioning of devices).

While this decision swipes away the copyright claims (potential appeals aside), there was no such swift judgement on the DMCA claims. Apple argues that Corellium is working around built-in authentications and security checks, whereas Corellium argues that such things are implemented at a hardware level and the firmware they’re dealing with (the iOS IPSW files) are “left unencrypted, unprotected, unlocked, and out in the open for the public to access, copy, edit, distribute, perform, and display.”

News: What’s behind this year’s boom in climate tech SPACs?

• December 29, 2020
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There’s no denying that 2020 has been the year of the special purpose acquisition company. Since the beginning of the year, 219 SPACs have raised $73 billion, according to widely reported market research from Goldman Sachs. That’s a 462% jump from 2019 and more than traditional public offerings raised by about $6 billion. By some

There’s no denying that 2020 has been the year of the special purpose acquisition company.

Since the beginning of the year, 219 SPACs have raised $73 billion, according to widely reported market research from Goldman Sachs. That’s a 462% jump from 2019 and more than traditional public offerings raised by about $6 billion. By some counts, roughly one quarter of the SPACs that have been announced will target climate-related businesses.

Already, of the 78 deals that have either completed or announced a merger since 2018, just over one-third have been climate-related, as tallied by Climate Tech VC. And these SPACs have outperformed the broader technology market, with the 10 climate tech companies that have completed mergers averaging a 131% return on investment versus the 50% return of the total SPAC market (assuming average offering prices of $10 per share).

Clearly this has been a banner year for companies that are tackling the climate crisis across a number of verticals, but can it last?

There are a few reasons to think that it can — led chiefly by the demand for these kinds of public offerings from institutional investors, including the pension funds, mutual funds and asset managers handling trillions of investment dollars.

“[The] current wave [of SPACs] is because over the past 24 months the institutional investor universe has come fully into believing that climate solutions are going to be a major growth area in the 2020s and beyond, but they weren’t seeing options available to them for investing into,” wrote longtime clean technology investor, Rob Day, in a DM.

“The available publicly traded ‘green’ companies were already getting really bought up, and the private equity options were underwhelming as well (smallish in the case of VC, low returns in the case of large-format projects). Throw in a Robinhood market of retail investors with a lot of enthusiasm for EVs and such, and you have a nice recipe for this to happen.”

News: Attending CES 2021? TechCrunch wants to meet your startup

• December 29, 2020
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It’s that time of year again. Of course, this year is going to be different (to be honest, even looking at that lead image makes me uneasy). For the first time ever, CES is going all-virtual – but as usual, TechCrunch will be around to (virtually) cover it. The new format offers some unique challenges

It’s that time of year again. Of course, this year is going to be different (to be honest, even looking at that lead image makes me uneasy). For the first time ever, CES is going all-virtual – but as usual, TechCrunch will be around to (virtually) cover it. The new format offers some unique challenges and opportunities, and we’re (virtually) here for it.

This year, we’re taking a different approach to help sort the signal from the noise. For past events, we’ve issued a similar form to find unique and interesting companies for our stage. While we don’t have stage (or booth or physical presence of any sort) this year, we’re still looking to talk to as many great companies as possible.

Getting noticed at a show the size and scope of CES is difficult even in normal years – and that difficultly is likely to only be compounded for many smaller startups in this new all-digital format. We’re looking to get out in front the mid-January scrum. If you’re showing off something cool or have some noteworthy news at this year’s event, fill out the form below and we’ll do the rest.

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News: From the U.S. to China, Korea, India and Europe, antitrust action against tech is gaining serious momentum

• December 29, 2020
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After decades of global expansion and consolidation in the tech sector, antitrust is now a headline issue for the industry across the world. What has been a slow and sputtering series of disparate actions over the past decade has coalesced in just the past few weeks into a rapid and comprehensive series of actions against

After decades of global expansion and consolidation in the tech sector, antitrust is now a headline issue for the industry across the world.

What has been a slow and sputtering series of disparate actions over the past decade has coalesced in just the past few weeks into a rapid and comprehensive series of actions against the industry, with the United States being a notable laggard worldwide.

Nowhere are these actions more prominent than in China, where the competition authorities have — after many years of a reasonably laissez-faire policy to its internet giants — suddenly decided to take sweeping action against its largest tech companies.

That movement started after Chinese regulators thwarted Ant’s record-shattering IPO in early November. Ant is one of China’s most important tech companies, a fintech company that was looking at a valuation north of $300 billion and that has 1.3 billion active users globally centered on China and the overseas Chinese diaspora.

That regulatory action led to a $60 billion dollar immediate drop in Alibaba’s market cap, given Alibaba’s 33% stake in Ant.

The bad news from Beijing has continued for the tech industry though. Earlier this week, market regulators laid out a “rectification” plan for Ant, including tougher lending standards that are expected to deeply impact the high-flying company’s revenues, margins, and growth. The Wall Street Journal reported this morning that China also specifically intends to “shrink” Jack Ma’s own influence over his business empire, with the government itself potentially acquiring larger ownership stakes in tech companies.

Furthermore, Beijing seems ready to force Alibaba and Tencent to play nicer with each other and create breathing space for startups outside of their two inter-locking corporate webs. Earlier this month, authorities fined Alibaba a nominal amount and also reviewed a Tencent acquisition, actions that were perceived by analysts as the opening shots in a new round of antitrust intervention. More action is expected in 2021.

It’s not just China though that has been bringing tech companies to heel. Almost exactly a year ago, Germany-based Delivery Hero announced a $4 billion takeover of Seoul-based Baedal Minjok, a popular food delivery app. Yesterday, South Korean competition authorities ordered Delivery Hero to divest its existing local delivery assets to get approval for the acquisition — a demand that undermined one of the reasons for acquiring Baedal Minjok in the first place. Delivery Hero has said that it will sell its unit to complete the transaction.

Meanwhile this month, Europe and soon-to-be-Brexited Britain announced a spate of new policies and regulations designed to heighten competition in the tech sector, including increasing legal liabilities for illegal content, broadening transparency around services, and mandating open competition on major platforms. Those policies have been a long-time coming, but now that they are starting to gain traction, they portend huge changes on how the highest-scale tech companies can operate on the Old Continent.

While many of these global policies are designed to undo the consolidation and scale of the industry, in India, regulators are working to prevent such scale in the first place. Local competition authorities there announced in November a framework that would prevent any company from owning more than 30% of local payments volume, and also mandating financial interoperability standards. That policy appears to be designed to avoid the kind of fintech duopoly seen in China between Alipay and WeChat Pay.

With all this global antitrust action bubbling, the laggard has actually been the United States, perhaps since the largest tech giants are all headquartered domestically. While Congress, the president, and dozens of state attorneys general have become increasingly strident on the scope of companies like Amazon, Google, and Facebook, action remains very early against the giants.

The largest and most notable action so far has been a massive lawsuit by 46 states against Facebook that was filed earlier this month. As we reported then, the lawsuit “alleges that the company bought competitors ‘illegally’ and in a ‘predatory manner’ in order to grow and preserve its market power. The suit cites Facebook’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp as prominent examples.”

Of course, as some of us remember from the 1990s with the U.S. government’s case against Microsoft, antitrust lawsuits often take years to full wend their way through the courts — and often don’t even lead to much if any change in the end anyway.

Whether a Biden administration will dramatically change the course of these actions remains unclear, with the transition offering very limited insight as it prepares to take office next month.

Nonetheless, all of these antitrust actions happening simultaneously across the globe within weeks of each other portends huge regulatory fights for tech in 2021.